Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-15
THE CALIFORNIA CRAZE.

THOUSANDS OF people spend their al
IN reaching this land Of promise, only
to meet disappointment on their arrival
The real estate fever, intensified to ab
suTdlty by fictitious booms, has attracted
many persons there who otherwise would
have weighed carefully their chances
Of success before abandoning "Well
enough" and the phenomenal success of
the usual hundredth man among these
has attracted and still attracts others
Those who fail are seldom heard
from ard the lesson which might
be taught by their expert
ence is lost 1t is only the
successful that are heard from in the pub-
lie prints. The truth of the matter is
that California has the grsndest climate
on earta, and when that is said all Is said.
more so than other sections of the coun-
try; her attractions are numerous, but
not more so than those of other states;
al she has to pride herself on is her eli
mate, and that, to use 8 common and
most appropriate expression, is "worth
$500 a front FOOT" little too costly for
ordinary mortals to indulsein. California
is peculiarly and distinctly the home Of
the wealthy. With well-tilled
purse, there is no place in this
country where life can be made so
pleasant and agreeable and nowhere can
existence he made more tolerable. The
purse mu3t be long and deep; well filed
and the strings taken out. There has
been now ard then some money made by
specializing n real estate, but prices are
abnormal, end he who invests his money
at current rates is walking over vol
cano on bridge of ashes. Towns OF
1000 and 5000 inhabitants, with one rail-
road, without any natural advantages
and without prospects of expansion
owing to their proximity to large cities,
have been doomed go persistently and
scientifically, that the ordinary business
lots ere held higher than any business lots
in Fort Worth or Dallas, There is
a class oflsnd spectators whose business
and paying business it ISIS to buy
town property, boom it and sell out at q
profit, They purchase what they c2n as
cheaply as they can until they are pretty
well 'lcaded," then they pay an extrava-
giant price for two or three pieces of prop
erty and the boom starts. Special trains
are run carrying purchasers free; fine meat
and drink is prepared; lodging and driv-
upon their guests and pocket the profits.
There are enormous transactions in real
estate recorded daily, but the investor
sleeps but little until he gets his
money back. This state OF affairs
cannot last. Prices are unnatural,
values fictitious, peoples heads are turn
ed by booms based upon airy and hypo-
thetiCal possibilities and the day must
come when cool common sense will re-
assert Itself and burst this bubble. Then
there will be wailing among those unfor
! tunates who will be caught with high
priced property on their hands. While
the chances for people with means are
poor and Investments hazardous, the fate
of the working man who goes there to
earn living or win competency is pitt
able. The speculative craze has with
drawn Gil the money from the channels of
normal and healthy business and ingulf-
ed it in the maelstrom Of land gambling.
| Material improvements have ceased,
the slow work-a-day plodding OF ordinary
commercial pursuits is despised and the
working man finds no fields wherein he is
invited to labor. Whatever can be don e
is done chiefly and cheaply by the Chinese
who overrun the labor market and crowd
out American Workmen in all ordinary
pursuits. They work for less, live
cheaper, and submit to more than car
Americans. They not only pull down
prices, but degrade labor to q level to
which no white man will consent to de-
scend, and their peculiar methods Of
= living are such that to compete
: with them in the race of lii,
is impossible and any attempt a
: doing so is palpably foolish. There are
= instances where, in certain branches O
industry, white Iaborers and artisan!
: have secured remunerative employment
in California, but they are the exception!
rather than the rule. Any one who con
templates removing to the Golden slope
: intent upon making living in that lant
of millionsires and high prices should
look well to it that he is not lesping II
the dark. The exchange Of Texas TO
California, excepting by those whose cir
cumstances make salubrious climate
and pleasant living the chief end and sm
bition of their lives, is a poor bargain AM
one which should not be made hastily.
To the Press Fraternity.
We ask your kind consideration Of gu